U.S. Nonfarm Payrolls Rise 178,000 in March; Jobless Rate at 4.3%
On April 3, 2026, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in Washington, D.C., released the March 2026 employment report: total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 178,000, the unemployment rate edged down to 4.3 percent, and the number of unemployed stood at 7.2 million.
By industry, health care added 76,000 jobs, including 35,000 in offices of physicians as workers returned from a strike; construction added 26,000 and transportation and warehousing added 21,000. Federal government employment continued to decline, falling 18,000; since its October 2024 peak, federal employment is down 355,000, or 11.8 percent.
Average hourly earnings for private nonfarm employees rose 9 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $37.38 in March, up 3.5 percent over the year; the labor force participation rate was 61.9 percent. The bureau also revised earlier data: January's gain was raised to 160,000, while February was revised down from a loss of 92,000 to a loss of 133,000.
Related: 美国2月非农就业减少9.2万人，失业率4.4%变化不大
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于美国华盛顿的美国劳工部弗朗西斯·珀金斯大楼外景，劳工统计局隶属劳工部（资料照片）。ajay_suresh 摄，CC BY 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons；联邦固定图库。 / Photo: The Frances Perkins Building, headquarters of the U.S. Department of Labor, in Washington, D.C.; the Bureau of Labor Statistics is part of the department (file photo). Photo by ajay_suresh, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; federal fixed image library.
